Most countries and territories in the Pacific conducts a census every 10 years, with some doing it every five years. The statistics and information produced by a census of population and housing are the most important and useful data that a country can obtain. High-quality data from a census ensure that policy-makers are able to make informed and relevant decisions to improve the lives of their people. For example, if decisions on where schools and hospitals are built are based on the age, sex and fertility patterns revealed by a census, the services will be provided where they are most needed.

Our Programme provides technical assistance and training on all aspects of population censuses at the request of member countries. Capacity development and skills development are achieved through one-on-one work assignments, either in-country or at SPC headquarters in Noumea, or through formal training workshops and meetings. The work of the programme is undertaken in partnership with national counterparts.

The nature of the assistance varies depending on the country’s demands and needs, but includes advice and/or training on project planning and management, content development, questionnaire design, data collection (incl. using GPS technology), data processing (incl. using Scanning technology and CSPro which is a widely used Windows-based software package for entering, editing and tabulating census and survey data), analysis, dissemination, and preparation of analytical reports (incl. using our PopGIS software, Data cubes, web-based tools and other tools)

List of recent Censuses - Check out the reports on PRISM

CNMI 2000
Cook Islands 2001 & 2006
Fiji 1996 & 2007
French Polynesia 2002 & 2007
FSM 2000 & 2010
Kiribati 2000 & 2005
Nauru 2002 & 2006
New Caledonia 2004 & 2009
Niue 2001 & 2006
Palau 2000 & 2005
PNG 2000
RMI 1999
Samoa 2001 & 2006
Solomon Islands 1999 & 2009
Tokelau 1996
Vanuatu 2009
Wallis and Futuna 2003 & 2008